Hotline
by TMNT-Queen
Summary: Donnie volunteers with a local branch of the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. One night, he gets a call from someone that feels a little too familiar to him. Caught between following the rules and following his instincts, Don has to make a decision, and soon...or it could be too late. (Rated T for talk of suicide, and some slight language.) Originally meant to be a oneshot.
1. One

**One**

The old, well-worn desk chair creaked as Donatello sat down in it; as usual, he ignored the noise his chair made - there was nothing wrong with it other than the fact that no matter how much he oiled the metal, it insisted upon squeaking.

The genius opened up his internet browser and quickly found the page he was looking for. His shift started in about five minutes, but it never hurt to be early. Who knew how many people he could help in that timeframe? Sure enough, his line started blinking red within seconds of his logging on. He switched on his headset immediately.

"This is the Suicide Prevention Hotline. What can I do for you?"

A sniffle, then something rustling near the receiver. _"I'm just...I'm lonely. I needed to know that_ -" There was a pause, like the girl's voice caught in her throat, and then she continued. _"I needed to know that I'm not really alone. That someone cares."_

"You're not alone," Donnie assured her. "I'm Donnie, and I'll be here for as long as you need me to be."

" _Raya_ ," the girl whispered back, sniffling again. "And thank you."

Thirty minutes later, the purple-banded turtle hung up the call with a promise to email Raya later in the week and check up on her. He sighed and took a sip of formerly-hot coffee, glancing at the clock. His shift wasn't even close to halfway over - not that he minded. Saving people - heck, even letting people know they weren't alone - was worth every second he spent.

The second call he took was much like the first, barring the fact that the caller never spoke a word. Fifteen minutes went by in near-silence as Donnie sat there and listened to quiet sobbing from the other end of the line. The caller hung up shortly before the twenty minute mark. But that was nothing new to Donnie. He frequently received calls like that; he'd asked a coworker before, and it had been explained to him that sometimes it was just enough to know that there was someone listening for you.

The third and final caller that Donatello spoke to that day was unexpected and not wholly unfamiliar. "You've reached the Suicide Prevention Hotline. What can I do for you today?"

There was a moment of silence and a noise like footsteps on a metal fire escape. _"Just...be there, I guess. Try and talk me out of it."_

"Out of what?" The turtle didn't really need to ask; he knew just by the caller's tone of voice.

" _Suicide_." The caller laughed, but it was a bitter sound. " _I hate that word. It's fitting though."_ A few moments of silence went by before he spoke again. " _Y'know, I don't even think anyone will miss me if- when I leave."_

Donnie frowned, already pulling his map up to try and pinpoint the location of the caller. "Why do you say that?"

" _They hate me."_ The words were said so quietly, but they ripped at Don's heart. _"They blame me for a lot of things. Horrible things."_

"Did you do the things they're blaming you for?"

 _"Not directly. But if I'd payed more attention to detail, then I could've prevented them."_

Something about the caller's voice gave the genius pause; he actually stopped typing for a moment as his brain tried to pinpoint what that something was. The voice was young - he couldn't have been more than twenty -, thickened with tears and filled with sorrow and a sort of acceptance, but there was still a familiar edge to it. Maybe...maybe he knew this person?

As quickly as the thought appeared in his mind, he banished it. There was no way. Yes, he was apparently from New York - at least according to the information the teen put into the system himself - but New York was also a massive place, and there were millions of people there. Statistically speaking, there was absolutely no way that Donatello knew him. But even still...

His fingers flew across the keyboard again as he worked to find out exactly where the boy was calling from. "Sometimes we can't prevent bad things from happening," Don murmured into his headset, hoping that it would serve a dual purpose: calming his caller down, and stalling for enough time to locate him. "Sometimes all we can do is try to pull ourselves back together afterwards."

 _"...do you have brothers?"_

"I do. Three of them."

 _"Do they hate you?"_

The purple-clad turtle bit his lip, turning his thoughts inward for a second. "If they do they've never told me to my face."

" _Do they hate each other?"_

"Sometimes I think that my older brothers do, but that's only natural. They're very close in age, and both of them are stubborn as mules." City located. Manhattan, New York. _Maybe I do know this kid_.

 _"My younger brother hates me the most. He actually told me he did today. I mean, I always had a feeling that he did, but hearing it spoken like that...it hurt. Everything hurts."_

"What's your name, kid?"

He could hear it: the irritation of being called a child when you were nearly grown. But the teen sighed. _"...Dave Vince. Everyone calls me Vince."_

"Alright, Vince. I need you to do something for me. I need you to tell me where you are so that I can get you some help, okay? Can you do th-"

 _"I don't need help!"_ Vince snapped. _"I need it to stop!"_

Shit. Donnie had definitely said the wrong thing. He typed even faster, knowing that his time was running out. "What? What needs to stop?"

" _I...everything. Everything needs to stop. I'm trying, all the time, but it's just too hard. I wish I could just fall asleep and not wake up_."

"Vince-"

" _Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe I shouldn't have called_."

"Vince, listen to me-"

" _I'm done listening. I'm just...I'm done."_

"Wait! I'll come to you."

There was a long pause where the teen said nothing at all. Then: _"What?"_

"I'll come to you." His face had paled and his heart skipped a beat and _oh Kraang why did I say that?_ But Vince had actually stopped moving, and silence came from the other end of the line, and then...was he _laughing_? _"I appreciate that, but I don't think you'll actually want to see me."_

"Why not?"

 _"I'm not exactly a normal person."_

Donnie chuckled a little, thinking about how _not normal_ he himself was. "It's okay. I'm not very normal either."

Vince grew quiet again for a long minute. _"Why do you want to come and see me?"_ he asked, so softly that it was almost impossible for Don to hear.

"I don't want you to be alone."

 _"Oh. Well...I-I'm at the top of the Byerly Building."_

"I'll be right there," the genius told him. "Give me five minutes."

 _"Okay. ...hey, what's your name, anyway?"_

"I'm Donatello. My family and friends call me Donnie." There was another pause, then a quiet _"Oh. Oh, no."_ Donnie's pulse shot upward and he reached for his keyboard again. "Vince, what's wrong?"

 _Click._

 **A/N: Please review and let me know if I should continue with this storyline. Also, take a guess at why Vince hung up so quickly, and why you think Donnie feels like he knows the kid.**


	2. Two

_A/N: have i mentioned that you guys are awesome? cuz you're all freaking awesome. thank you for the massive support on this book (which was never intended to be more than one chapter - yet here we are, haha)._

 **Chapter Two**

Leo didn't come to breakfast or training the next morning, begging a day off to nurse his growing headache - a favor that was readily given to him by the others because they all knew how bad his headaches could get.

It wasn't unusual, Mikey mused as he prepared lunch. After all, the guy deserved a sick day just like anyone else. He worked just as hard for their family, if not harder, as Donnie or Raph did. He could afford to take a day off every once in a while.

What _was_ unusual was the fact that the youngest turtle heard Leo talking to someone on the phone later that day. Mikey hadn't meant to eavesdrop; he was walking to his own bedroom and it just sort of _happened._ One minute he was walking, and the next minute, he was crouching in front of the not-so-thick sheet of metal.

 _"-don't know how much longer I can take this,"_ Leo murmured on the other side of the door. _"It's not like I can talk to them about it. They're all busy with their own stuff. I-"_ He paused and then sighed. _"No. I think they'd be just fine without me here to bog them down._ "

There was another pause, like he was listening to whatever the person on the other end of the line had to say, and then he continued again. _"I'd love to get away, even for a little while. Just pack a bag and disappear. See the world. Be free, for once._ " Mikey bit his lip, thoroughly confused, yet his heart was aching for his brother. Leo just sounded so _sad-_

Footsteps sounded behind the ninja and Raph appeared without warning. "The hell are you doing, Mike?"

"Eeep! Oh, heh, hey Raph. I, um... I fell. Tripped." He stood up hastily and backed away towards his own room. Leo, meanwhile, had gone completely silent behind the door.

"Well, would you go trip somewhere else? Somewhere that ain't right in the middle of the hallway?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. Sorry."

The hothead gave him another weird look as he disappeared into his bedroom, leaving Mikey alone in the hall once more. But Leo was obviously done with his phone call; there was no more noise from inside his room...except the footsteps headed straight for him.

Before the orange-banded turtle could decide whether to duck into his own room or maybe climb into the rafters, the door opened. Leo raised an eyeridge at him. "You okay, Mike?"

Mikey was too busy studying his older brother to register the question. The leader looked normal, if slightly more exhausted, and - wait, were those _tearstains_ on his mask?

"-ike? Michelangelo."

He snapped back to the present to find Leo openly staring at him now. "What? Oh, no, I'm fine, dude. Why d'you ask?"

"I heard you tell Raph you tripped. You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"Pshh. Nah. I'm ninja, remember?" Mikey flashed a grin and then slung an arm around his sibling's shoulder. "But hey, you're doing okay, right? You're, like, getting enough sleep and everything?"

"...yes?"

The younger turtle chuckled to hide his concern at Leo's slightly dubious answer. "Y'know, you generally aren't supposed to answer a question with another question."

"I think you've been hanging around Donnie too much. Go to bed, Mike."

A derisive snort was the only response he gave, and as he tugged on his older brother's hand he felt him flinch a little. "You first. It's almost two in the morning and you get up earlier than me." There was another strange look cast Mikey's way and then Leo allowed himself to be pushed into his bed and tucked in. "Hey, d'you think that if I asked Sensei, he'd let us have the day off from training tomorrow? It's been awhile since we had a break and we could all really use it."

"Mike-"

"I'm sure he wouldn't be against it. 'Sides, I could probably get Don and Raph to back me up if I needed it."

"Mikey-"

"I should go and ask while I'm thinking about it, probably."

"Michael-"

"Eh, you're right. It's too late. I'll ask tomorrow." Mikey flashed a smile at him and booked it out of the room, tossing a "G'night, bro!" over his shoulder.

Leo sat up in bed for a long moment, trying to process what had just happened. Eventually he decided that he would never understand and it would probably be better if he didn't know, anyway. That settled, the leader heaved a sigh, laid down, and fell asleep instantly.

 **A/N: Soooooo….kind of a filler chapter. Sort of. 'cept for the fact that Mikey's on to Leo, and Raph may or may not be on to Mikey. Heh.**

 **Anyway, please leave me a review to read. They're like my lifeblood on this site and I honestly really love getting them and hearing from you guys. 3**

 **~Queen**


	3. Three

**Three**

His heart pounded against the plates on his chest and his blood roared in his ears. A small bead of sweat dripped down his neck and slid under his carapace. He'd never snuck out, not really - maybe once in his entire life. Sneaking out was for rebels and troublemakers and Raphaels, and Hamato Donatello simply did not fit any of those categories.

And as such, his conscience was having extreme difficulty with allowing him to walk out of the Lair's entrance. Every step made him cringe and guilt was surging through his veins the farther he crept, but Vince was waiting for him at the top of the Byerly Building and he was _not_ going to let him down. He'd promised, after all.

Okay, strictly speaking, the odds of Vince actually still being at the top of the building were slim to none (after all, it was well past midnight now, and all sane people were in bed). The way the teen acted right before he hung up the phone should've been answer enough, but Donnie had to be certain. Vince's life could quite literally be hanging in the balance, and if something happened, Donnie would never be able to forgive himself.

So he took a deep breath to steel his nerves and then bolted down the tunnel, straight towards the surface.

* * *

Exactly four and a half minutes later, Donnie was standing in a shadowed corner, anxiously scanning the graveled rooftop. There was nobody else to be found.

Simultaneous feelings of relief and dread welled up in his gut and he inhaled through his nose in an effort to try and calm himself. _Okay. Okay. You figured that something like this would happen. He's probably fine._

Just to be on the safe side, though, the genius turtle checked the sidewalks surrounding the building. Nobody there, either. And nobody was screaming, so he figured that Vince had probably chickened out entirely.

With a sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his soul, Donatello turned and headed back to the Lair, feeling much older than his nineteen years proclaimed him to be.

* * *

Mikey met him at the door.

The youngest of the turtles had a frown on his face and his arms crossed as he tried, and failed, to look tough. "Where did you go? You realize it's, like, three o'clock in the morning, right?"

Despite himself, Donnie couldn't help but retort. "Did Leo send you to check on me?" he asked, the words coming out sharper than intended. He brushed it off as exhaustion - not disappointment - and pretended not to notice the hurt in his brother's eyes.

"Leo's asleep," Mikey said coolly, following the genius upstairs. "Has been for about an hour now."

"Great. He'll get three whole hours of sleep and then ride our shells in training."

"Actually I was going to ask Dad for a day off." That revelation was enough to stop the lankiest turtle in his tracks and he found himself turning to face Mikey again. "What?" Mikey asked, tone growing a bit defensive. "You could use the rest, too. We've all been going way too hard lately, and I really think it's time for a break."

Donnie snorted and shook his head. "Even if Splinter says yes, Leo'll never go for it."

 _I'll string him up by his toes until he does,_ the freckled ninja thought. A grin cracked into his "tough guy" façade as he imagined a wriggling Leonardo calling to Raph to help him down from the pipes that lined the dojo ceiling.

"It'll work," Mike replied instead of sharing that particular mental image. _It has to._ "Now go get some rest."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Mom." But Don didn't protest any further. Mikey made certain that the genius actually climbed into bed before pulling the door shut with a soft _click._

Finally alone, a weary Michelangelo headed downstairs and slumped onto the couch. His shoulders sagged and he breathed a long sigh. _Man, acting like a big brother is a lot harder than it looks. No wonder Leo's so tired all the time._

Slowly, the turtle's eyes closed and he fell asleep on the corner of the old, worn-out couch.

 **A/N: Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things should start to heat up soon, and I'm hoping I'll have enough time to write more, in this and other books (though the next four or so days should be very productive for that - surgery seems to have its perks, but I may or may not go crazy by Wednesday. Oh well.).**

 **Anyway, please leave me a review! :D**

 **~Queen**


	4. Four

**Four**

It was four minutes until his shift ended, he had a bad migraine, and all he wanted was a hot cup of fresh coffee and maybe a cheesy old horror flick playing in the background while he worked on his latest project.

"You've reached the Suicide Prevention Hotline. What can I do for you today?"

By this point, it was almost like Donnie was reading off of a script - he knew the words by heart, had memorized them long ago, but his mind wasn't fully _there_ when he said them.

He was too busy worrying about Vince.

The teen had been on his mind for the past week and a half; Don couldn't help worrying about the kid. The way he'd hung up the phone was especially alarming, and somewhere deep inside, the purple-banded turtle wondered if he'd said something truly _wrong._

Of course, Vince had only panicked when Donnie had revealed his name.

The revelation stopped him in his tracks and he actually froze for a long moment. His mind whirled with theories as to _why_ , but he couldn't come up with anything that seemed logical enough.

Unless...unless Vince somehow knew-

 _"-ello? Hello? Is anyone there?"_

Donnie realized with a start that he'd completely zoned out. _Oops._ "Sorry about that. I got lost in thought for a second."

 _"Apparently."_ Whoever was on the end of the line huffed a laugh, and Don's cheeks turned scarlet. _"You must be a really smart guy, Donnie."_

"My brothers would say s- wait, how did you-"

Another laugh. _"For someone who knew so much about me last time, you sure are blind right now."_

Last time? "Vince?"

 _"Hey, Don."_

"Oh gods, Vince, are you okay?! I went to the Byerly building and you weren't there-"

 _"Yeah, I...I decided not to go through with it."_

"Oh. That's great!" Silence came from the other end of the line, so Donnie hastened to amend his statement. "It _is_ great...isn't it?"

 _"I guess so. I mean, nothing has really changed."_

"Your relationship with your brothers, you mean?"

 _"Yeah. They, um...they aren't speaking to me anymore. At all. I think I might've done something to hurt them, somehow."_

The turtle furrowed his brow, rubbing a hand across his head in thought. "What do you mean about hurting them?"

Vince blew out a frustrated breath, and Donnie imagined him pacing around. _"I don't know. It's stupid, really. I probably just_ breathed _wrong. It's just that...lately I haven't been welcome, not really. It's like they're trying to get rid of me or something. They're excluding me from a lot of things, and it honestly feels like I don't even have a place at home anymore."_

"I'm sure that's not true. They probably just don't know how to relate to you anymore."

 _"...you really have a way with words, Don. Tell a guy he's weird, why dontcha?"_

Now it was Donatello's turn to be speechless. He floundered for a response, or at least a defense - he hadn't _meant_ for it to come out like that, honestly, but sometimes he spoke before he thought.

 _"I'm kidding,"_ came Vince's laughing voice again after a tense silence. _"Look, I gotta go."_

"O-Oh. Okay. I- You'll be okay, right?"

 _"Probably."_ Click _._

"...well _that's_ reassuring."

* * *

Sometimes it was just _too_ easy, Leo mused, grinning a bit to himself as he hung up the phone.

Yeah, maybe he was being reckless, calling the hotline again after finding out that his own brother was monitoring calls. But lately, there was a rebellious streak running through Leonardo's veins - and by some strange twist of fate, talking to Donnie under guise of a stranger named _Dave Vince_ actually made him feel a lot better. So he kept doing it, comfortable in his laurels and his belief in his own stealth skills.

And little by little, as Leo's self-esteem and positive mentality grew, so did his genius brother's suspicions about why exactly Vince seemed so familiar.


	5. Five

**Chapter 5**

"Suicide Prevention Lifeline. My name is Donnie. How are you today?"

 _"Changing up your script, Don?"_

"Oh, Vince, hey."

Something lackluster must've made it through the turtle's voice, because Vince paused before he spoke again. _"Are...are you okay? You seem kind of...down."_

"Yeah, no, I'm totally fine."

 _"...did you forget that I have brothers? I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying. So what's eating you?"_

Donatello's shoulders slumped and he traced the rim of his long-since empty coffee cup. His eyes flitted to the clock on the wall. Thirty more minutes until he got off. "...I don't know, just...do you ever feel like nothing you do is good enough?"

 _"Good enough for who?"_

"Anybody. Everybody. Ugh, that doesn't really make sense. Sorry. It's...it's been a long week, and I-"

 _"It's okay, Don,"_ Vince replied softly, cutting him off. _"Stuff doesn't have to be great all the time. You're allowed to feel like crap every once in a while."_

"Tell that to my family." The response stunned Vince into silence, and Donnie was quick to amend his words. "Look, I-I shouldn't even be telling you this stuff. This is your time to talk about what you need to talk about, and here I am complaining."

 _"Actually, I just kind of wanted to have a regular conversation with you. I mean, discuss some regular stuff. Not...y'know...depression and all that."_

Now it was Don's turn to be surprised. He blinked, swallowed, and managed to gather his thoughts into cohesive sentences. "You- you just want to talk? To me?"

 _"Now, see, I just said I want to talk about something other than depressing stuff, but you gotta go and drop a heartbreak bombshell like that."_

"Sorry. Force of habit. My brothers never seem to want to just have normal conversations with me. Aaaaand I'm oversharing again. Sorry." _Wow. I'm really contributing to the whole "Sorry is overused" stigma tonight._

Vince huffed a laugh, but somehow the sound was a little off. _"It's all good, Don. Anyway, tell me what you're into."_

The change of subject was abrupt but welcome, and the genius soon found himself grinning and chuckling as his companion cracked jokes about him needing to get out more - an unrealistic thought, but well-meant nonetheless. And the jokes did wonders to cheer him up.

Donatello was finally having a good night.

* * *

Leo allowed himself to smile as he said goodnight to Donnie and hung up the phone. Tomorrow, he'd monitor his sibling a little more closely to see if there was anything he could do to rectify the mistakes he'd unknowingly made when it came to their relationship, but tonight he wanted to celebrate a bit.

He'd managed to cheer Don up with nothing but his own cheesy jokes (apparently they were funnier when they came from someone who wasn't named _Leonardo_ \- how that worked, the leader couldn't understand) and a few well-timed grins that fed right into his voice.

 _Distraction is a ninja's best friend,_ Leo mused. His father may have said that the shadows were a ninja's best friend, but things had changed over the years, and Leo was more inclined to believe that distraction had played a huge part in his clan surviving as long as it had.

Leo's gaze fell on his phone again and he plugged it in to charge before slipping off his belt and pads and heading into the living room for one more check of the Lair. Mikey was long since in bed (or at least in his bedroom - though, judging by the light snoring he could hear, the youngest turtle's monster movie marathon had been cut short about three hours ago). Raph was dozing in his hammock, but he woke enough to offer his oldest brother a warm half-smile before shutting his eyes again.

The blue-banded ninja was about to step into the lab when the door slid open and an exhausted but happy-looking Donatello slipped out. "Oh, hey. Did you need something?"

"No, I was just checking on you before I turned in."

"I was actually, um, about to go to bed," Don admitted.

Leo smiled at that and nodded. "Alright. I'll see you in the morning then." He turned on his heel and headed back upstairs, but before he made it to the landing he called over his shoulder. "Oh, and Don?"

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Thanks for everything you do around here. I really appreciate it."

Before Don could even formulate a response through his surprise, Leo had disappeared into his bedroom and shut the door.

 _Tomorrow will be better,_ Leo promised himself, and he found he was able to drift into an easy sleep - because for the first time in a long time, he truly had a purpose, a real goal in mind.


End file.
